dc’s comic book universe is an
uninviting mess of continuity reboots
and it’s all your fault
[Applause]
before we go on be sure to check out our
magazine of the best comic books of the
1980s when comic book issue numbers
reached the triple digits starting from
the beginning isn’t sure and figuring
out where to start is a puzzle worthy of
The Dark Knight himself
DC’s solution cut the cord and start
from square one over and over again
this means canceling all their existing
comic books and taking the established
canon or continuity and rewriting it
starting off new books at issue number
one
Regina know who I am Jedi we could
easily dismiss continuity reboots as
being a shallow and predictable way for
publishers to make more money by drawing
in new fans every time a new reboot
happens a lot of hype and media buzz
comes out of it and inevitably fans buy
the new comics and curious would-be fans
get on board that conclusion does the
publisher a great disservice however as
comic books are still made by people who
are themselves huge comic book fans yes
DC wants to make money but they also
genuinely want people to enjoy what they
make and do justice to the pop culture
icons they’re responsible for who are
you a friend back in the 1950s DC
rebooted their now iconic superhero the
flash sales of the original flash Jay
Garrick were low and DC solved this by
simply introducing a new flash this time
named Barry Allen with an origin story
similar to gasps besides they’re named
ninth or achter had a connection to the
other and Allen’s flash existed
alongside but separate from Jay Garrick
in an entirely different universe a 1961
storyline titled flash of two worlds
would later introduce readers to the
concept of parallel universes and began
bc’s multiverse the popularity of this
story led DC to bring back some of its
other classic heroes and crossovers
between these parallel worlds now called
earth 1 and earth 2 became more and more
common you’re going to find what I have
to
very difficult to believe you’re from a
parallel earth as time went on the
writers attempted to tie the threads of
all these different timelines together
things actually got more complicated and
more Earth’s where necessary further
crossover events proved to be very
successful both commercially and
critically but in the end ICI ended up
with too many heroes too many parallel
worlds and too many comic books to keep
track of so begins the mother of all
comic book reboots 1985’s crisis on
Infinite Earths where DC literally took
a torch to their entire comic book
lineup deciding based on popularity
which heroes to keep and which to get
rid of in a huge event spending dozens
of issues all of the parallel worlds
came together and eventually merged into
a single universe now called new earth
it’s important to note at this point
that both Supergirl and Barry Allen both
died during the story heroically
sacrificing themselves to save the
multiverse but wait how can that be
since both of those characters are still
around in comic books published today
that’s because everything is wrong none
of it matters and everything that
happens we’ll always get undone that
secret of the universe billions of
people making billions of choices
creating Infinite Earths the next reboot
came in 1994 during an event called zero
hour crisis in time as you can see it’s
almost always appropriately labeled a
crisis in this storyline how Jordan’s
Green Lantern has gone insane and using
the combined power of the entire Lantern
Corps recreates the universe once more
this time the reset outlined which
storylines DC wanted to keep intact and
which were now considered non-canon
again based on popularity and same
feedback giving fans what they wanted
would fail to be the Rosetta Stone that
DC needed to revitalize their declining
franchises many of their new and
rebooted series were canceled after just
a few years unlike the successful and
well-received crisis on Infinite Earths
reboot of the 80s the 19 eret of centric
zero hour was largely rejected by fans
and it’s easy to see why with crisis on
Infinite Earths a total continuity
reboot was a new and exciting concept
with the individual heroes at its center
zero-hour was a knee-jerk reaction to
fan concerns and woodling sales
throughout the years the confusion
continued to pile on it became harder
and harder to figure out which past
storylines counted and which didn’t TC
found itself back in an era similar to
pre-crisis where in current fans were
exhausted and potential new readers had
no idea where to begin
DC solution was of course to reboot
their entire comic line again with the
2011 initiative the new 52 fairy
you’ll kill everyone unlike previous
reboots the new 52 spun off from a
single event that completely reset all
the continuity from scratch with only a
few exceptions it was safe for DC to
tell readers that the only thing they
needed to get started in the new 52 was
the new 52 itself would this be it
the reboot to end all reboots tragically
no what did you do to the world
oh very that’s the beauty of all this I
didn’t do any of it you first first year
the new 52 was a huge success both
critically and financially established
readers were excited with the looks
stories and direction taken by most of
the new books and the hype around the
initiative brought lots of new readers
on board once the initial hype wore off
however fans began to feel betrayed time
went on many of the classic heroes began
to behave less and less like the
established pop culture icons they were
based on bizarre retellings of things
like Wonder Woman’s origin or Starfire
and Superman’s personalities turn many
fans away once again sales began to take
a serious drop and now only a few years
since the new 52 DC is once again
rebooting much of its continuity with
2016 s DC rebirth so where will it end
we think it’s safe to say that we may be
stuck in this endless cycle for the
foreseeable future until DC’s writers
find the courage to stick with their own
decisions those same fans that they
placate will never be happy with
whatever ends up on the shelves the DC
Universe is not beyond saving but time
and time again it’s been proven that a
crisis is never a solution mark
go
[Music]
check out these other great clips from
WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos
every day
uninviting mess of continuity reboots
and it’s all your fault
[Applause]
before we go on be sure to check out our
magazine of the best comic books of the
1980s when comic book issue numbers
reached the triple digits starting from
the beginning isn’t sure and figuring
out where to start is a puzzle worthy of
The Dark Knight himself
DC’s solution cut the cord and start
from square one over and over again
this means canceling all their existing
comic books and taking the established
canon or continuity and rewriting it
starting off new books at issue number
one
Regina know who I am Jedi we could
easily dismiss continuity reboots as
being a shallow and predictable way for
publishers to make more money by drawing
in new fans every time a new reboot
happens a lot of hype and media buzz
comes out of it and inevitably fans buy
the new comics and curious would-be fans
get on board that conclusion does the
publisher a great disservice however as
comic books are still made by people who
are themselves huge comic book fans yes
DC wants to make money but they also
genuinely want people to enjoy what they
make and do justice to the pop culture
icons they’re responsible for who are
you a friend back in the 1950s DC
rebooted their now iconic superhero the
flash sales of the original flash Jay
Garrick were low and DC solved this by
simply introducing a new flash this time
named Barry Allen with an origin story
similar to gasps besides they’re named
ninth or achter had a connection to the
other and Allen’s flash existed
alongside but separate from Jay Garrick
in an entirely different universe a 1961
storyline titled flash of two worlds
would later introduce readers to the
concept of parallel universes and began
bc’s multiverse the popularity of this
story led DC to bring back some of its
other classic heroes and crossovers
between these parallel worlds now called
earth 1 and earth 2 became more and more
common you’re going to find what I have
to
very difficult to believe you’re from a
parallel earth as time went on the
writers attempted to tie the threads of
all these different timelines together
things actually got more complicated and
more Earth’s where necessary further
crossover events proved to be very
successful both commercially and
critically but in the end ICI ended up
with too many heroes too many parallel
worlds and too many comic books to keep
track of so begins the mother of all
comic book reboots 1985’s crisis on
Infinite Earths where DC literally took
a torch to their entire comic book
lineup deciding based on popularity
which heroes to keep and which to get
rid of in a huge event spending dozens
of issues all of the parallel worlds
came together and eventually merged into
a single universe now called new earth
it’s important to note at this point
that both Supergirl and Barry Allen both
died during the story heroically
sacrificing themselves to save the
multiverse but wait how can that be
since both of those characters are still
around in comic books published today
that’s because everything is wrong none
of it matters and everything that
happens we’ll always get undone that
secret of the universe billions of
people making billions of choices
creating Infinite Earths the next reboot
came in 1994 during an event called zero
hour crisis in time as you can see it’s
almost always appropriately labeled a
crisis in this storyline how Jordan’s
Green Lantern has gone insane and using
the combined power of the entire Lantern
Corps recreates the universe once more
this time the reset outlined which
storylines DC wanted to keep intact and
which were now considered non-canon
again based on popularity and same
feedback giving fans what they wanted
would fail to be the Rosetta Stone that
DC needed to revitalize their declining
franchises many of their new and
rebooted series were canceled after just
a few years unlike the successful and
well-received crisis on Infinite Earths
reboot of the 80s the 19 eret of centric
zero hour was largely rejected by fans
and it’s easy to see why with crisis on
Infinite Earths a total continuity
reboot was a new and exciting concept
with the individual heroes at its center
zero-hour was a knee-jerk reaction to
fan concerns and woodling sales
throughout the years the confusion
continued to pile on it became harder
and harder to figure out which past
storylines counted and which didn’t TC
found itself back in an era similar to
pre-crisis where in current fans were
exhausted and potential new readers had
no idea where to begin
DC solution was of course to reboot
their entire comic line again with the
2011 initiative the new 52 fairy
you’ll kill everyone unlike previous
reboots the new 52 spun off from a
single event that completely reset all
the continuity from scratch with only a
few exceptions it was safe for DC to
tell readers that the only thing they
needed to get started in the new 52 was
the new 52 itself would this be it
the reboot to end all reboots tragically
no what did you do to the world
oh very that’s the beauty of all this I
didn’t do any of it you first first year
the new 52 was a huge success both
critically and financially established
readers were excited with the looks
stories and direction taken by most of
the new books and the hype around the
initiative brought lots of new readers
on board once the initial hype wore off
however fans began to feel betrayed time
went on many of the classic heroes began
to behave less and less like the
established pop culture icons they were
based on bizarre retellings of things
like Wonder Woman’s origin or Starfire
and Superman’s personalities turn many
fans away once again sales began to take
a serious drop and now only a few years
since the new 52 DC is once again
rebooting much of its continuity with
2016 s DC rebirth so where will it end
we think it’s safe to say that we may be
stuck in this endless cycle for the
foreseeable future until DC’s writers
find the courage to stick with their own
decisions those same fans that they
placate will never be happy with
whatever ends up on the shelves the DC
Universe is not beyond saving but time
and time again it’s been proven that a
crisis is never a solution mark
go
[Music]
check out these other great clips from
WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos
every day
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